What is your opinion of President Obama and Joe Biden's speeches at last night's DNC?

Did they address the topics you wanted to hear? Were they impassioned or articulate or clear enough in their message? Were there any surprises for you? Did they do a good job balancing or rebutting the Republican message? How did you feel afterward? Any stand-out moments for you?

42 Answers

I was very impressed by Joe Biden’s speech. He delivered it expertly. Sure he had some word slip ups, but that made it more personal and honest.
Obama’s speech was good, but didn’t soar like so many of his speeches have in the past. I get the feeling this one wasn’t meant to.
John Kerry gave the best speech of his life yesterday. I couldn’t believe how fired up he was. My favorite moment was when he asked if we are better off now than four years ago, and he answered “Ask Osama Bin Laden!”
Caroline Kennedy spoke as well. I guess she didn’t see the facebook posting that said she didn’t support Obama, since she urged everyone to reelect him.
I was really torn up watching Gabby Giffords lead the convention in the Pledge of Allegiance. She walked with such difficulty, and was unable to recite it perfectly, but she looked good. I feel so awful that she has gone through all this.
In summation, no one speaking last night did as well as Bill Clinton had the night before, but all the speakers were better than any at the RNC last week. That isn’t just because of my political leanings; they were more connecting, better written, and better delivered.

I was in class last night, so I watched Obama’s speech this morning. I found it thrilling, and the idea of not looking for a scapegoat to blame our problems on really resonated with me (being pro gay marriage), as well as the comment about preventing those with the biggest checkbooks from being able to buy our government (being anti Koch brothers).

For delivery and enthusiasm they both get a B+. But for content over what this campaign is or should be about I give Joe a C and Barack a D+. Why he avoided discussing real solutions to the economy and simply regurgitated all his 2008 slogans and promises leaves me flabbergasted.

His only talking point on this was this quote from the speech…

“You can choose a future where we reduce our deficit without sticking it to the middle class. Independent experts say that my plan would cut our deficits by $4 trillion. And last summer, I worked with Republicans in Congress to cut billion in spending [snip]”

He wants to cut 4 trillion??? Why not go for at least the 6 trillion he added to the deficit and the start cutting the deficit that he inherited? Plus he supports his claim here by saying he “worked with Republicans in Congress to cut billion in spending”?? WOT? A billion?!!? A WHOLE BILLION?? Does he think America is that clueless that we can’t see through that BS? Even a 4th grader can do the math and see that at a billion here and there he has zero chance of even paying off a trillion in 4 years!

Plus most of his speech contained the same old rhetoric for more entitlements which of course means more spending! Just more smoke and mirrors. Time to kick the clown out of the fun house!

I still think Bill Clinton’s speech was the best. It was very well structured and hit almost every major attack the GOP has on Obama. It was very informative while very charismatic at the same time. I wish he were able to run again…

I think all-in-all, the DNC had more policy content than the RNC. Call me crazy, but I just can’t stand for a platform which won’t let ‘fact-checking’ stop them from sending out a message no matter how misleading it is.

I did find a few mis-quoted statements, one in particular by Barrack Obama who said that the GOP refused to co-operate with any plan to lower the deficit if it had even $1 in raising taxes for millionaires. Technically, the GOP said they wouldn’t vote on any deficit lowering plan if it included raising taxes in general. Obviously, it’s a twisted way of portraying that message, but hell – even not wanting to raise taxes at all is being very stubborn and irresponsible.

Clinton’s speech was the best, hands down. I actually though John Kerry had the best single line of the DNC (in the midst of a pretty good speech) ... “Why don’t you ask Osama Bin Laden if he’s better off than he was 4 years ago?”

Obama has given better speeches, but it was still a solid speech. So much positive work had been done by Clinton and surprisingly even Biden (who managed to not shove his foot in his mouth for once), that he didn’t need to really make it one of his best.. though of course I’d still love to have seen one of his best.

We’ll see if they end up getting a better bump than the RNC, and/or if it sticks.

@Cruiser In all fairness, the vast majority of Obama’s deficits were inflicted by mandatory spending that kicks in with welfare (which were in place long before him and he couldn’t have stopped), and the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan (which he only could have reduced the cost of by completely pulling out as soon as he got in office). Chart for proof —> link

(it’s also worth noting that 1.1 trillion of the debt attributed to Obama was actually incurred under Bush, as presidents share fiscal years since they start and end in October… Bush inflicted 1.1 trillion worth of deficit from October 08 to January 09 when Obama took office)

And I believe the word was billionS, not billion. And you’ve gotta recognize the work he did do with Speaker Boehner trying to reduce the deficit. He had a plan on the table to cut the debt by a trillion or so a year… but in the end the Republicans wouldn’t agree to ⅓ of the money coming from tax increases (vs the ⅔ from welfare reform and spending cuts).

@tedd I can certaily cut Obama some slack for the portion of the deficit that got kicked down the road. I find it funny how people associate deficit with some evil negligence inflicted on our country. So quickly we forget a HUGE part of our deficit is from over 10 years of conflict in the middle east and like we really had any choice in the matter. So that Bush’s fault? After 9/11 the entire world had blood lust to exact revenge over there that has turned into hatred of our government because of years of horrible economic conditions and misguided policies. Again what is glaringly missing from Mr. Obama’s rah rah speech are SOLUTIONS! Give me the specifics already!! He has had 4 years to practice this and by now should damn well have SPECIFICS!! There was not ONE in the whole entire speech!

Jobs?? He says he created jobs?? Perhaps but how many were lost under his term. Apparently PLENTY! Other wise why would the unemployment numbers be EXACTLY the same as the day he took office??

And it doesn’t matter who added to the defict @tedd, HE PROMISED he would cut it in half and now he is make more promises there is no way in hell he can keep, not with the republicans in control of congress and he knows this but continues to make promises! I get this I just wish more people saw through the preacher man empty rhetoric.

What is wrong with this picture!! It is just more smoke and mirrors and I can guarantee if he gets elected it will only get worse!! I will put money on this statement too!! Any takers?

I didn’t actually watch any of them, instead I read the transcripts. I still think Big Bill’s speech was the best of the lot. Obama’s was right up there though, a lot of sentiment to it, but not relying on it disproportionately in lieu of his vision, and generally well structured. I’d have preferred actual spelled out steps and policy necessary to reach that vision (and the expected/known hurdles along the way) but I’ve long since given up on getting that. Biden’s speech just didn’t resonate with me, it just felt inconsequential and off base, particularly against the way Bill and Obama’s speeches fit well together.

All of them, republican and democrat, stretched and twisted to make the numbers support their platform, sadly that’s expected. Deficit, Social Security, and Health Care issues simply played on confusion rather than clarifying anything, except for Bill talking about the 3 million young people who now have insurance under their parents’ policies – that actually agrees with the HHS findings. Obama’s comment about trade agreements is nice but bugs me because I feel it paltry compared to what could/should be on the table, sorta like saying you saved the barn but lost the farm. And Bill’s comment about HC costs vs. inflation makes me want to grind my teeth, he should know better.

@Cruiser Yes, we felt a need to go into Afghanistan in 2001. But Iraq cost $3 trillion unfunded dollars that was unnecessary. Like him or not (and at one point the US did like him), Saddam Hussein kept Iran in check. Now the Iraqis are letting Iran use Iraqi airspace to deliver weapons to Assad in Syria.

Obama was solid. Biden has too many teeth, I think. He should be in a toothpaste commercial. Scary. Anyway, I was distracted from his speech as my wife wanted me to find a refrigerator. But there’s something about Biden that doesn’t really appeal to me. Fortunately, he’s the VP and he doesn’t really matter.

I don’t expect a lot of substance for what is basically a cheer-leading speech. I thought both Biden and Obama were rousing.
One of the commentators, asked the same question, said something like, “There wasn’t a lot of substance, but there was a lot of caressing of the erogenous zones of the body politic.”

EXACTLY @zenvelo In each and everyone of these purportedly evil dictators that were in power, they were left there for so many years because they were predictable and I would not be surprised if there was a live let live agreement in place. But look at all that has happened and not happened since Sadam was removed from the planet as well as Bin Laden. We are 3 steps back from square one with nothing but a monster deficit to show for it.

@Cruiser If you ignore the first 3–4 months of Obama’s term, where the job losses could pretty agreeably be blamed on Bush since Obama’s policies weren’t in yet…. Then Obama has not only totally reversed an economy that was losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month, but he’s added over 4 million jobs to the economy… and that’s despite state governments cutting 2+ million from their payrolls.

I see your point on his promise to cut deficits, but I don’t see “empty promises” with him. What I saw was a man who tried his hardest to cut deficit’s and make things work (such as the talks with Boehner that I cited earlier). He followed through on many of my most adored promises from the 08 campaign… he added massive funding to science and technological research, as well as alternative energies (including Natural Gas)... he wiped out most of the terrorists and ended the war in Iraq… He backed various social policies that I heavily favor (gay rights most notably)... He put in place the consumer protection agency and put rules back in place for wall street (though I wish there had been more) ... He even addressed healthcare, and while I wish he’d gone further and done a single payer, I think he accomplished quite a lot of good on that front.

I will very readily bet you money that things don’t get worse if Obama is re-elected. Things are getting better every day.. you don’t walk out of the second worst economic crash in history (that most of the world is still in btw) in a mere 4 years… especially if you have to fight the people who crashed said economy every step of the way.

@Cruiser And the debt accrued in the last 10 years, while somewhat owed to the wars in the middle east… is majority due to the Bush tax cuts. He cut income for the nation, and not spending (in fact he increased it if you’re counting the wars). The math doesn’t add up.

@tedd PLEASE stop the liberal fuzzy math already! PLEASE tell me how you can say he added 4 millions jobs and still have the same EXACT unemployment rate and make that added jobs statistic even remotely accurate?

You all are reading too much into the speech. As @Sunny2 said above, the DNC has always been nothing but a cheerleading convention and both Obama’s and Biden’s speeches were excellent, no real substance speeches for firing people up for the upcoming election. Sure, Obama’s broken some promises, he’s made some mistakes, but he’s also done a lot more than I thought he would be able to do with such a argumentative Congress, and for that reason I think he deserves another chance. Either way I’d rather have him there than Romney right now.

@tedd Back to the debt, In 2007 Bush’s budget had a 161 Billion dollar deficit with $2.57 trillion in revenue. 4 years later in 2011….now remember this is just 4 years now…Obama’s budget had a $1.56 trillion deficit. Deficit spending at nearly 10 times the rate Bush gently piled on our shoulders. The saddest stat is our country’s revenue in 2011 was $2.567 and actually LESS than 4 years earlier. Minus revenue growth 4 years later. In 4 years Obama couldn’t find a way for our country to make at least a dollar more than we did 4 years prior? How do you f@ck THAT up?? Are you getting the picture here? Any of this sinking in sir? Stop denying the FACTS. We are in way worse shape now than ever and Obama has done NOTHING to make it any better! You and all the other liberals must be so desensitized to the value of a dollar that a trillion is the same as $10 to you. Start thinking in terms these budget and deficit dollars are YOURS not Obama’s and that Debt is YOURS too! Honestly….he had 4 years to do something ANYTHING to clear up this mess or at the very least set the table for recovery and all he is doing now is avoiding the reality of just how badly he as screwed us over. And you want 4 more years of the BS?? Wow, just wow!

Oh @Cruiser, @Cruiser, @Cruiser. It must be so hard to be a conservative. Listen dude. Logic should be your friend, not your wrestling mate. And I know that you hate pesky details and you want everything to be like it is in that pretty fairy land in your head, but really, you have to pay attention. Really. It’s not so hard.

The 4 million jobs are private sector jobs. He’s also been cutting the federal budget, so he’s had to lay off a lot of public sector workers. It is the private sector economy that has been growing, and if you conservative friends in Congress had had a little sense and not insisted on destroying the federal government, then the job numbers probably would have seen an increase. Be that as it may.

But listen next time he talks. Really. Try hard. He only said “private sector” a gazillion times, as has everyone else who has spoken about it. Even I can remember that. And please don’t be like your conservative friends and be all disingenuous next time, now that you know the truth. You can no longer pretend the Democrats are saying something they aren’t.

I think I could have written those speeches verbatim. Because they are close to the same ones mixed with things I pretty much expected to be said. I don’t think they did much to move Independents. And that Michigan Gov? wtf?

@Cruiser With regards to the “fuzzy math” about jobs numbers.
1) The unemployment rate is not at all tied to the new jobs numbers you hear every month, they are two separate surveys. The total number of new jobs (whether for net gain or loss) is literally the total sum of jobs in the country added or lost. The unemployment % is a different number that has different factors involved, such as people no longer looking for work, under-employed, over-employed, etc.
2) And allow me to clear up that “fuzzy” math for you. You apparently have trouble with the subject so I’ll put it in picture format for you. Open this link and set the time span from January 2008 to August 2012, and see how it “looks” to you. Keep in mind Obama took office right there in the middle of that big pit. The only thing still “fuzzy” to me is how anyone would want to go back to the same economic policies that had us “losing” ¾ of a million jobs every month!

With regards to the deficit:
1) Bush never included the costs for the wars in Iraq in his reported deficit totals.
2) As I pointed out already, Obama is faced with automatic federal spending as a result of more families having to turn to welfare, or decreased income from taxes, or deciding it’s more responsible to draw down our troops rather than yank them out at a moment’s notice and throw the middle east into turmoil… things that are in place that he has no say over. Things that mind you are a result of Republican’s screwing up the economy.

Obama has laid down infrastructure groundwork and build a base that is going to push this country into the future, and make it stronger than it ever has been. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, did FDR racking up huge deficits on infrastructure and social nets make the US a weak country, or did it make it the most powerful nation and economy on the planet for the next 70 years???

Not only do I want 4 more years of this… I wish this could go on forever. My only complaint is that Republicans are saying no when the president is giving them 10 to 1 compromises.

Like Clinton said We left him a total mess. He hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough. So fire him and put us back in. That seems to be the Republican game plan… Not to mention their downright horrific social policies.

@tedd I am glad you mentioned Clinton. He too was faced with similar partisan struggles in Congress, the major difference is Bill knew how to turn partisanship into bi-partisan albeit small victories. I still don’t buy your fuzzy math as 4,000,000 “new” jobs according to Mr Obama should have at least shave a 10th of a percent off the unemployment roles. And I also argue this automatic federal spending increase you reference is a direct result of the expansion of the entitlement programs HE championed. The one that frosts my cookies the most is the huge growth in disability payouts in Social Security (40%+ Increas) is partly due to being clinically depressed is considered disabled now and people can collect SS disability payouts. All you have to do is collect unemployment for 8.25 months, skate for another 3.75 months then tell your doctor you are all depressed you can’t find a job and now get SS benefits! Full free ride! <<face palm>> Man….do Americans not have it GOOD!??

@Cruiser The Republicans Clinton dealt with were far more negotiable than the ones Obama is working with. From the very outset of his election they literally made it clear that their goal was to make Obama a one term president. They held up ⅔ of all of his appointments, even for minor positions such as circuit court judges where the nominees were overly qualified. Even after he passed the consumer protection agency without a single Republican vote they locked up the confirmation of the agencies leader for two years in committee. When Obama reworked his healthcare plan using Republican ideas that had literally been thought up by the likes of his last two presidential election foes (McCain and Romney), they suddenly thought these ideas were socialism! If Obama invented the cure for every type of cancer tomorrow, the Republicans would declare that the color of the pill was socialist…. that is the type of opposition he faced, such that no one has faced in this country since the 1860’s!

And I’ve tried pointing out the math behind the “fuzzy math” to you, you don’t seem to get it. If the picture I showed you doesn’t make it anymore apparent I dunno what will. Take that same graph and adjust the years to show other presidents results. Toy around with it, you’ll see the guy did a pretty darn good job.

You are claiming the automatic spending is a result of Obama and entitlements he pushed. Then why did the budget from 2008–2009 incur barely 300 billion in deficit under Obama’s watch to the 1.1 trillion under Bush, who had to spend for all the people who suddenly lost their jobs?

Do you have any kind of proof to back up this claim about SS payouts growing by 40% (legit sites, not some idiots blog)? Do you have anything to back up your claim of collecting unemployment for 8.25 months and “skating” for 3.75 and what not ? Cuz right out the door I call utter bull sh*t on that.

And finally you link to a website from an obviously money grubbing lawyer, done up by someone with a 5th graders knowledge of making a website… and point to that as someone showing people how to scam entitlements?

Are you my grandmother in disguise? I’ve got some other magical internet things to show you if you believe that BS.

All I am hearing from @Cruiser is that it seems to be Obama’s fault that he has partisan struggles in Congress? Oh, and as @tedd pointed out, the partisan struggles are much more severe than what Clinton had to endure. But how is that Obama’s fault? Sounds like it’s a bunch of stubborn Republican’s to me.

Also, how can you take this clean cut graph and say it’s fuzzy? Is it fuzzy because you can’t use it to support your opinions, or I’m sorry, I mean your facts? And this entitlement program championed by Obama is technically a Republican Think Tank idea. Also seven presidents before (Barack Obama)—Republicans and Democrats—tried to expand health care to all Americans, including none other than Ronald Reagan. See this for more detail on that. Hell – even Bush Jr pushed for expansion of Medicare to include prescription drug coverage, but again if Obama pushed for similar things, the GOP would label it socialism.

There is nothing Obama could do, including pushing GOP think-tank idea’s, to win approval from the GOP. Hell, he is the one who approved the Bin Laden raid, and the GOP still give the guy sh*t for taking too much credit. I can’t imagine what Bush would have said had he been in office when that raid occurred.

I think both men will be somewhat unsuccessful unless they have at least 60 votes on everything that means probably both houses…concurrently. That’s just the way the country has broken and that’s just the way it is. Both men have good enough shtick as is always the case depending on what side you view them from. The convention speeches/ parties are a feel good event for the dedicated followers who are already in their pockets. They become so ginned up Jenifer Granholm they can’t understand why everyone in the world isn’t supporting their guy.

@RandomMrAdam These “stubborn” republicans are no more obstinant than the remaining stubborn mule Democrats that didn’t even allow for debate and simply ram-rodded Obama’s signature legislation he passed in 2008/2009. When the mid-terms took place and lost the House in 2010 is where the Dems really dug in. So anyone who is truly informed would know it is a strawman argument to point fingers solely at eh Republicans. A partisan divide is just that and takes 2 to create and only one man can break that impasse and so far it has been just Bill Clinton.

@Cruiser – I understand both parties seem to have retreated to their corners and have dug in, but the corner to the right seems to be MUCH further to the right than those on the left. I can’t seem to handle the extreme social agenda that the GOP have, and then the blatant disrespect they have to the President, where some resort to shouting, calling him a LIAR, all while interrupting him talking. The GOP has displayed much more childish behavior than the FOP, though I understand both sides play a part in the current mess we are in.

Bush started 2 wars, then lowered taxes, increased defense spending, and I must have missed the plan to pay for all of this. The GOP seems to be out of control when it comes to spending, not to say that the Democrats are much better. But I would sooner oppose unfunded wars and the Patriot Act, than the Affordable Care Act.

@RandomMrAdam All reasonable points but I again take us back to the deficit. No matter what Bush did he did so in a reasonably conservative way. 161 billion deficit in 2007 under Bush compared to the over a trillion dollars defict spending Obama threw away in 2011…what is there to like about spending like a drunken sailor? Talk about Bush not having a plan to pay it back…show me one concrete idea Obama has laid out to pay back even a dime!? All I see on the horizon here is more spending on entitlements and tax relief. It can only get worse if nothing is changed in how we conduct our countries finances as in OUR money!! There is really only one man on the ticket who possesses the knowledge and experience of the hard brass ball decisions to turn around a failed enterprise like our country is and that is Mr. Romney. No contest there at all. How can anyone ignore this hard cold fact!?

“For delivery and enthusiasm they both get a B+. But for content over what this campaign is or should be about I give Joe a C and Barack a D+. Why he avoided discussing real solutions to the economy and simply regurgitated all his 2008 slogans and promises leaves me flabbergasted.”

@johnpowell Ryan gets an A- for presentation, genuine attitude and smirky smile. His content was reserved as had it been “his” show I am sure he would have let loose with both barrels. I give a C+ for content and a few actual details.

Romney, though I thought his delivery and emotions were by far the best speech he ever gave and provide a rare ray of hope to the GOP faithful…I am trying to be fair and grade this as a party convention speech and he gets a B- for delivery. Content though heartfelt and you got the feeling he genuinely believed what he was saying, it still lacked substance and I issue him the same I gave Obama…D+.

This is social so I can say this, I think it is amusing that what the republicans are saying this week is what the democrats were saying last week. It is all a blame game! But the fact is the country was in pretty sucky shape when Obama took over the reins, I don’t see it as being any worse now and probably a little bit better off.

The last time it was in really good shape and respected all over the world was when Bill was sitting in the oval office. Then which party went in and it all went to hell????

I really like the part where he said he was going to let Bradley Manning have a trial, stop using drones to murder people, repeal and make people aware of the dangers of the NDAA, FISA, and the Patriot Act, stop arresting people for non-violent drug offenses, and that the federal reserve is largely to blame for our poor economy, thanks to them devaluing the dollar.